Review

Build Quality and Ergonomics:

Sony Alpha 35 – Left Side zoomed In

The build quality of the Sony a35 is quite good in my opinion. It has really tight tolerances at all the seams and as far as I can tell would be able to take a little bit of mist and light drizzle worst case. I would not say weather proof though by any means. I can’t feel any flex or play in the camera even with the lens beefy 16-80mm lens mounted to it. Sony really does do a great job in this department. As far as ruggedness goes, I would never recommend dropping a camera, but I think the a35 would take a light fall and survive assuming it didn’t land in a puddle 😉 The alpha 55 definitely was not as rugged feeling as the a35 in my opinion, so Sony is definitely listening to there customers! For comparison purposes I would say the Sony alpha 35 is just as rugged as the Canon T3i, which I could not say for the Alpha 55.

The camera overall is really light, but once I added the lens it has a nice balanced weight. I’ll go into more detail about the Carl Zeiss 16-80mm lens in another review specifically for that 😉 When holding the camera normally with my right hand I can reach every button easily except the menu button which is on the left side. I assume Sony put it over there so you don’t hit it accidentally.

Sony Alpha 35 – Battery annd Memory Card Compartment

Moving on to the battery compartment. The door is a little cheesy feeling, but most cameras are believe it or not. It works perfectly however, and the compartment accommodates both Memory Stick PRO Duo™/Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™ and SD/SDHC/SDXC media cards. That is a great little talked about feature 😉

OLED

The OLED although not the greatest resolution like the new 2nd Gen version coming out in the A77, works quite well on this camera and is certainly good enough to get the job done. There is a slight lag between what you see on the screen vs real life, but it’s not that noticeable in my opinion. The dynamic range is also pretty poor on the oled, but again it’s certainly good enough to get the job done. I usually review the photo anyway on the better quality LCD screen after I take the shot, this way I can check out the histogram and focus closer etc…

sony Alpha 35 – OLED

One interesting thing about the OLED that I didn’t give enough credit to in my a55 review is the fact that it’s live with your current settings. So, you can actually see your white balance settings Live for example!! This is an awesome feature and I use it all the time now. You can simply look through the oled view finder and then hit the wb button. You will then see a little Warm/Cool temperature indicator pop up on your screen. At that point you can simple select left or right and adjust your white balance temperature live while comparing it to the actual scene. This is a huge advantage over the standard SLR style camera system where your looking through the lens itself.

The a35 also shuts the LCD screen off when your face gets close automatically as it assumes your using the OLED. Another advantage of using the OLED over the LCD Screen is it will significantly save battery life for you.

The LCD screen looks great in good lighting, but pretty much sucks in the sun like every other lcd screen. I did use it often to review, but found myself hunched over trying to create some shade so I could see the screen.

Image Quality:

The Sony a35 comes with a 16.2 megapixel APS-C sensor size and Sony® Exmor™ APS HD CMOS technology. This backlite sensor technology makes the slt-a35 capable of high resolution with very little penalty in the low-light and noise department. I didn’t do any “Lab” style test shots with the a35 as dpreview I’m sure will have that covered 😉 I did however take over 1000 “Real World” shots with the alpha 35, and I can say with confidence that this camera is capable of taking great pictures!

DXOMark Agrees:

DXOMark a35

The auto modes work very well for the most part and I have a ton of sample pics to show you! The Exif info is below the images, and don’t forget all these photos are available in Full Res over Here >>.

I drive past this cool spillway/ waterfall on the way to pick up Layla, and it was a great opportunity to check out the AutoHDR feature of the a35. It works incredible well; in my opinion being an avid HDR shooter. The dynamic range in the scene was huge and a single image produced a blow out sky, even with the dynamic range optimizer on auto.

I purchased the a35 about 2 weeks ago and absolutely love this camera. Your review is the best hands-on that I have read and I greatly appreciate the time and expertise that you have put into it. Your notes about the live view during change of the white balance settings, your choice of lenses and your comments on the auto iso settings were the most helpful of any tips I have seen so far. Great use of photos to back up your statements regarding HDR and the exceptional resolution of this small, light camera with a very low price point. Cannot thank you enough for enhancing my use of this beautiful camera. Please keep up the good work. Already bought the cam from B&H and now plan to buy the cz lens from them also.

That is awesome to hear! Thank you so much for your comments and taking the time explain what you liked about the review. I really try to approach my reviews from a photographer point of view and it seems to work out pretty well for most people. The ISO tip in particular is very important, and I’m really surprised Sony defaults the shutter speed so slow for a camera like this. It really makes it a little harder to use for the total beginner and I could see some people getting very frustrated from blurry pics if your taking pics like I did of the Dogs or whatever. Landscapes would probably be fine on AutoISO though 😉

As far as the lens goes, I really think that the Carl Zeiss 16-80mm is the best all around A-mount lens for the money 😉 If you can only have 1 lens, this is a great choice!

Feel free to ask questions if you have any and I will try my best to answer them!

Thanks for your comments and kind words 🙂 As far as your question is concerned the A35 is no good for studio work due to the OLED (electronic Viewfinder). The fact that your not actually looking through the lens is the issue. On a tradition SLR you can see through the actual lens and your not looking at a little TV like the a35. This allows you to use manual mode and have the camera set to whatever is needed for the studio environment and still be able to see through the camera to compose your scene, focus, etc..

A typical lighting set-up that I use in the studio is Manual Mode – f/8 @ 1/160sec, ISO 100. Now, if you could imagine what looking through the Sony a35 in Manual Mode set to those settings would look like??
The screen would be pitch black and you would not be able to focus or anything where as on my Traditional SLR Studio Camera I can see through the glass no matter what the camera is set to.

If you really want to use studio lights your going to need a traditional SLR like the Sony a390, or a580 for example.

No worries Frank 🙂 Happy to help! As far asSony and the future for Pro’s, I wish I knew. I know there working on a new Full Frame 36 megapixel camera, but it’s unkown what the specs will be. Sony does offer the A580 though and that is Studio capable as it has a traditional Moving Mirror. I’ll be getting that camera at some point, but I would rather get the a77 first!! 😉

Hi this is a very good review of Sony Alpha a35. I am interested in this model and Sony Nex-5n. This is the 1st time i am buying a interchangeable lens camera so i am very confused but one thing i have decided i want a Sony. I am a huge Sony fan. I have done my research and i know Canon and Nikon are leaders in this field but i dont have any lens to start with so i can choose my brand. Maybe Canon and Nikon is little better but it also depends on the photographer and how he takes picture. So please can you help me decide which camera should i buy – Sony Alpha a35 or Sony Nex-5n. Since they are almost the same price i am having a hard time deciding. I wont be buying a camera after this for a long time. Which has the better picture quality? flexibility? more easy to use? etc. Please help.

Thanks for your comments and you raised a very good question that requirers a lengthly answer. So I decide to create an article on just your question. Which is better, the a35 or the Nex5n? Based on Quality, Usability, Cost.

@ JAY Hi thank you very much and i really appreciate you making an article on my question rather than just an answer. I have checked it and i will surly let you know which camera i will buy.
@FRANK i am not a pro and i dont think i will go that way but whenever i go out i like to click photos of landscapes and good views so picture quality is a priority. I want to upgrade from my Sony point and shoot camera and my options are nex-5n and a35.

Jay, thanks again for your insight to the A35. As a result, I bought one the other and I’m loving it. Easy to use and yet picture quality is very good.

As you mentioned, the battery life isn’t the best and I was wondering if a battery grip would make a noticeable difference? It seems Sony haven’t made one yet (Bad Sony!!) and only Ownuser are making one to suit.

Thanks for the comments and question also!! Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with a sony battery grip or any other brand for the sony. At some point Sony will come out with one I’m sure. I would recommend waiting for a good quality battery grip and get a bunch of extra batteries. Possible an extra charger as well, because it takes forever to charge Sony batteries for some reason.

Having the extra battery in a battery grip usually gives you about twice the life. Some cameras can use 1 battery or the other, and other cameras pull from both batteries at the same time. It depends on the camera etc.. Definitely a good investment if it’s available.

A small negative to a battery grip worth noting is the camera is more likely to shack on the tri-pod due to a higher center of gravity in relation to the mounting point. It’s noticeable on my 5D Mark II, so I would assume it would be on other cameras as well. The grip has a tiny bit of flex witch results in a bit of sag at the lens end. Really noticeable in Macro photography!!

thank you for this test
difficult for me to make a choice for alpha 35 vs alpha 580
and I still hesitate because of the reliability problems of my former alpha 100 (especially the poor autofocus and break of the frame supporting the captor when I used the dust cleaning system)

Thanks for your comments and kind words! The Autofocus is really good on both cameras, but the a580 is a little better in my opinion. The A580 is also great in the studio environment if you ever want to do that sort of thing.

This is the kind of review we real world users need. Earlier had read your review on A77. Very impressed with the treatment you give. BTW in SONYALPHALAB why news about the Cannikons?Bit fanatic eh? Come from Minolta” lineage” 😉

I just purchased my 1st DSLR, a Sony A35. While I’m loving it, I still have a lot to learn! A bit overwhelming compared to my iphone camera! 🙂 You posted on comment on a previous writers post:
“The ISO tip in particular is very important, and I’m really surprised Sony defaults the shutter speed so slow for a camera like this. It really makes it a little harder to use for the total beginner and I could see some people getting very frustrated from blurry”.

For the life of me, I can’t find this tip. Can you please repost? I am experiencing frustration with blurry pictures & am wondering if I should have gone with the Nikon instead? Or just user error?

The ISO tip is in the review itself, but basically what I was saying was this:

Take the camera off Auto ISO and raise it up so your shutter speed is at least the focal length of the lens or more. Depending on how steady your hand is, and what lens your using, shutter speed is critical to getting sharp shots!! I ended up using ISO 400 a lot of the time for example in stead of Auto ISO which was picking ISO 200 for me.

Thank you very much!! I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to get the A37, because I’m still working on getting the Sony RX1, and the Sony Alpha A99. Those two cameras are my top priority after the Nex-6 review is done 😉 After that if I have time I will certainly try to get the Sony Alpha A37!!

Great review! Due to your review I just bought the a37 model as my first DSRL (or DSLT in this case). I have a question though. Is it possible to change the position of the metering spot? It seems to be stucked right in the middle.

You can’t move the metering spot, but you can move the camera and then press the AEL (auto exposure lock) button. that will lock the exposure for you. You can then re-frame the shot without the exposure changing. You can also change your metering modes, but they range from averaging the whole scene to more precise in the center. You can also use your exposure compensation to help swing things one way or the other.

Hi Jay! I have the Sony a-35 and am wondering if you can give some info on shooting fireworks. Everywhere I look it talks about delaying the bulb or something, but I’m not sure what that means or how to do it with this camera. We’re going to Disney soon, and I could REALLY use some advise!!!!!!! Anything will be helpful and much appreciated.

Sure can and don’t worry it’s really easy!! Set your camera to the S, which stands for shutter priority mode, and make sure the camera is on a sturdy tri-pod. Set the ISO to 100 and Not on Auto. Take your time and find a good spot to set-up. I would start with the camera at about 4 seconds and then move to longer 8 second exposures from there. That should yeild you some really great results. You can go for longer, but the bright areas will start to blow out and become distracting. To get really long exposures you can use the bulb trick and cover the lens in between firework explosions, but this takes a bit more practice for good results, and your likely to miss a lot of otherwise good shots you could have gotten. By all means experiment, but go for the shutter priority shots as a safe bet first.